Run-time architecture for enterprise integration with transformation generation

• US 20030120665A1
• Filed: 03/22/2002
• Published: 06/26/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fox, Joshua, Meir, Rannen, Hellman, Ziv Z., Schreiber, Marcel Zvi, Israel, Eliezer, Yuval, Tom Y., Yitzhaki, Guy
• Granted Patent: US 7,146,399 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/84 Mapping; Conversion
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An enterprise application system including a run-time transformation server, and a message broker for routing and transforming data in the form of messages between a source application and a target application, including a plug-in for preparing requests to the run-time transformation server and for processing responses from the run-time transformation server. A method is also described and claimed.

Claims

1. An enterprise integration system comprising:

a run-time transformation server; and

a message broker for routing and transforming data in the form of messages between a source application and a target application, comprising a plug-in for preparing requests to said run-time transformation server and for processing responses from said run-time transformation server.

2. The enterprise integration system of claim 1 wherein messages received by said message broker from the source application conform to a source data schema, and wherein messages sent by said message broker to the target application conform to a target data schema.

3. The enterprise integration system of claim 2 wherein said message broker transforms messages from the source data schema to the target data schema using a transformation provided by said plug-in, and wherein said plug-in generates an appropriate transformation for transforming messages from the source data schema to the target data schema.

4. The enterprise integration system of claim 3 wherein said plug-in generates the appropriate transformation from a central semantic model.

5. The enterprise integration system of claim 4 wherein the central semantic model is a central ontology model.

6. The enterprise integration system of claim 3 wherein said plug-in caches generated transformations, thereby obviating the need to re-generate them.

7. The enterprise integration system of claim 3 wherein the messages are XML documents, wherein the source and target data schema are source and target XML schema, respectively, and wherein the plug-in generates an XSLT transformation.

8. The enterprise integration system of claim 2 wherein said message broker transforms messages from the source data schema to the target data schema using a transformation provided by said plug-in, wherein said plug-in requests and receives a transformation from said run-time transformation server, and wherein said run-time transformation server generates an appropriate transformation for transforming messages from the source data schema to the target data schema.

9. The enterprise integration system of claim 8 wherein said run-time transformation server generates the appropriate transformation from a central semantic model.

10. The enterprise integration system of claim 9 wherein the central semantic model is a central ontology model.

11. The enterprise integration system of claim 8 wherein said plug-in caches generated transformations, thereby obviating the need to re-request them.

12. The enterprise integration system of claim 8 wherein said run-time transformation server caches generated transformations, thereby obviating the need to re-generate them.

13. The enterprise integration system of claim 8 wherein the messages are XML documents, wherein the source and target data schema are source and target XML schema, respectively, and wherein the runtime transformation server generates an XSLT transformation.

14. The enterprise integration system of claim 2 wherein said plug-in requests and receives transformed messages from said run-time application server, and wherein said run-time transformation server generates an appropriate transformation for transforming messages from the source data schema to the target data schema, and transforms messages from the source data schema to the target data schema using the generated transformation.

15. The enterprise integration system of claim 14 wherein said run-time transformation server generates the appropriate transformation from a central semantic model.

16. The enterprise integration system of claim 15 wherein the central semantic model is a central ontology model.

17. The enterprise integration system of claim 14 wherein said run-time transformation server caches generated transformations, thereby obviating the need to re-generate them.

18. The enterprise integration system of claim 14 wherein the messages are XML documents, wherein the source and target data schema are source and target XML schema, respectively, and wherein the run-time transformation server generates an XSLT transformation.

19. The enterprise integration system of claim 1 wherein said message broker is an IBM WebsphereMQ integrator.

20. The enterprise integration system of claim 1 wherein said message broker is a component of Tibco Active Enterprise.

21. The enterprise integration system of claim 1 wherein said message broker further comprises an adapter for communicating between said message broker and said run-time transformation server.

22. The enterprise integration system of claim 21 including at least one protocol bridge between said adapter and said run-time transformation server for translating among network protocols.

23. The enterprise integration system of claim 22 wherein the at least one protocol bridge uses Remote Method Invocation (RMI)) for forward communication

24. The enterprise integration system of claim 23 wherein the at least one protocol bridge includes a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) Web Services server.

25. The enterprise integration system of claim 24 wherein the SOAP Web Services server is an Apache Jakarta Tomcat server with Apache Axis.

26. A method for transforming data within an enterprise integration product, comprising:

receiving a message from a source application, the message conforming to a source data schema;

generating a transformation for transforming messages conforming to the source data schema to corresponding messages conforming to a target data schema;

transforming the message from the source data schema to the target data schema using the generated transformation; and

sending the transformed message to a target application.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein said generating generates the transformation from a central semantic model.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the central semantic model is a central ontology model.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein the message is an XML document and wherein the source and target data schema are source and target XML schema, respectively.

30. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

providing the source data schema and the target data schema; and

requesting a transformation for transforming messages conforming to the source data schema to corresponding messages conforming to the target data schema.

31. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

providing the message and the target data schema; and

requesting a transformed message.

32. The method of claim 26 further comprising caching the generated transformation.

33. An ontology modeler comprising:

a class builder for generating and editing classes within an ontology model;

a property builder for generating and editing properties of classes within the ontology model; and

a business rules builder for generating and editing business rules involving properties of classes within the ontology model.

34. The ontology modeler of claim 33 wherein said property builder generates one-to-one properties.

35. The ontology modeler of claim 33 wherein said property builder generates one-to-many properties.

36. The ontology modeler of claim 33 wherein said class builder includes a class builder user interface for designating that a given class is a subclass or a superclass of another class, and wherein a subclass of a class inherits properties of the class.

37. The ontology modeler of claim 36 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal or modification of an inheritance relationship among classes of the ontology model.

38. The ontology modeler of claim 33 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal of a given class or a given property on the ontology model.

39. The ontology modeler of claim 33 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of modification of the target or the source of a given property on the ontology model.

40. The ontology modeler of claim 33 wherein the business rules include a constraint among class properties whose targets are fundamental data types.

41. The ontology modeler of claim 40 wherein the constraint involves a composition of properties.

42. The ontology modeler of claim 40 wherein the constraint uses a regular expression.

43. The ontology modeler of claim 42 wherein the regular expression is an arithmetic expression.

44. The ontology modeler of claim 42 wherein the regular expression is a logical expression.

45. The ontology modeler of claim 40 wherein the constraint uses a text string operation.

46. The ontology modeler of claim 40 wherein the constraint uses a date function.

47. The ontology modeler of claim 40 wherein the constraint uses a time function.

48. The ontology modeler of claim 40 wherein the constraint uses a look-up table.

49. The ontology modeler of claim 40 wherein the constraint uses a branching condition.

50. The ontology modeler of claim 33 wherein the business rules include an equivalence between properties.

51. The ontology modeler of claim 33 wherein the business rules include an equivalence between properties and compositions of properties.

52. The ontology modeler of claim 33 wherein the business rules include a declarations declaring that a designated property of a class is unique, so that distinct instances of the class have different values of the designated property.

53. The ontology modeler of claim 33 wherein the business rules include a declaration that a designated property of a class is required, so that an instance of the class is not valid unless a value is specified for the designated property.

54. The ontology modeler of claim 33 further comprising a display tool for displaying test instance of classes in the ontology model.

55. The ontology modeler of claim 54 wherein said display tool displays values of test instance properties that are fundamental data types.

56. The ontology modeler of claim 33 further comprising a test instance importer for importing test instances of classes in the ontology model from an external data source.

57. The ontology modeler of claim 33 further comprising a test instance builder for generating and editing test instances of classes in the ontology model.

58. The ontology modeler of claim 57 wherein said test instance builder includes a test instance builder user interface for indicating values for properties of a test instance.

59. The ontology modeler of claim 57 further comprising a test instance validator for validating test instances.

60. The ontology modeler of claim 59 wherein said test instance validator checks for inconsistencies with regard to property values of test instances.

61. The ontology modeler of claim 60 further comprising a reporting tool for reporting inconsistencies with regard to property values of text instances.

62. The ontology modeler of claim 59 wherein said test instance validator checks;

for inconsistencies with respect to the business rules.

63. The ontology modeler of claim 62 further comprising a reporting tool for reporting inconsistencies with respect to the business rules.

64. The ontology modeler of claim 44 wherein said class builder generates a class of classes, the class of classes being a class the instances of which are themselves classes.

65. The ontology modeler of claim 64 wherein properties of a class of classes serve as metadata for the instance classes thereof.

66. The ontology modeler of claim 64 wherein properties of a class of classes are used for privilege management of the instance classes therof.

67. A method for building ontology models comprising:

generating classes within an ontology model;

generating properties of classes within the ontology model; and

generating business rules involving properties of classes within the ontology model.

68. The method of claim 67 further comprising:

editing classes within an ontology model;

editing properties of classes within the ontology model. And

editing business rules involving properties of classes within the ontology model.

69. The method of claim 67 wherein said generating properties generates one-to-one properties.

70. The method of claim 67 wherein said generating properties generates one-to-many properties.

71. The method of claim 67 further comprising designating that a given class is a sub class or a superclass of another class, and wherein a subclass of a class inherits properties of the class.

72. The method of claim 71 further comprising analyzing the impact of removal or modification of an inheritance relationship among classes of the ontology model.

73. The method of claim 67 further comprising analyzing the impact of removal of a given class or a given property on the ontology model.

74. The method of claim 67 further comprising analyzing the impact of modification of the source or the target of a given property on the ontology model.

75. The method of claim 67 wherein the business rules include a constraint among class properties whose targets are fundamental data types.

76. The method of claim 75 wherein the constraint involves a composition of properties.

77. The method of claim 75 wherein the constraint uses a regular expression.

78. The method of claim 77 wherein the regular expression is an arithmetic expression.

79. The method of claim 77 wherein the regular expression is a logical expression

80. The method of claim 75 wherein the constraint uses a text string operation.

81. The method of claim 75 wherein the constraint uses a date function.

82. The method of claim 75 wherein the constraint uses a time function.

83. The method of claim 75 wherein the constraint uses a look-up table.

84. The method of claim 75 wherein the constraint uses a branching condition.

85. The method of claim 67 wherein the business rules include an equivalence between properties.

86. The method of claim 67 wherein the business rules include an equivalence between properties and compositions of properties.

87. The method of claim 67 wherein the business rules include a declarations declaring that a designated property of a class is unique, so that distinct instances of the class have different values of the designated property.

88. The method of claim 67 wherein the business rules include a declaration that a designated property of a class is required, so that an instance of the class is not valid unless a value is specified for the designated property.

89. The method of claim 67 further comprising displaying test instance of classes in the ontology model.

90. The method of claim 89 wherein said displaying displays values of test instance properties that are fundamental data types.

91. The method of claim 67 further comprising importing test instances of classes in the ontology model from an external data source.

92. The method of claim 67 further comprising generating test instances of classes in the ontology model.

93. The method of claim 92 further comprising editing test instances of classes in the ontology model.

94. The method of claim 92 further comprising indicating values for properties of a test instance.

95. The method of claim 92 further comprising validating test instances.

96. The method of claim 95 further comprising checking for inconsistencies with regard to property values of test instances, vis a vis the business rules.

97. The method of claim 96 further comprising reporting inconsistencies with regard to property values of text instances.

98. The method of claim 95 further comprising checking for inconsistencies checks for inconsistencies with respect to the business rules.

99. The method of claim 98 further comprising reporting inconsistencies with respect to the business rules.

100. The method of claim 67 wherein said generating classes comprises generating a class of classes, the class of classes being a class the instances of which are themselves classes.

101. The method of claim 100 wherein properties of the class of classes serve as metadata for the instance classes thereof.

102. The method of claim 100 wherein properties of a class of classes are used for privilege management of the instance classes thereof.

103. A schema-to-ontology mapper, comprising:

a storage for storing a schema, the schema including at least one primary data structure, the primary data structure having at least one ancillary data structure; and

a map generating for generating a plurality of mappings, comprising;

a class mapper for defining a primary mapping that is a correspondence between a primary data structure of the schema and a class of an ontology model; and

a property mapper for defining an ancillary relationship between an ancillary data structure of the primary data structure and at least one property of the class.

104. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 103 wherein the schema is a relational database schema, wherein the primary data structure is a table and wherein the ancillary data structure is a column of a table.

105. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 103 wherein the schema is an XML schema, wherein the primary data structure is a complexType and wherein the ancillary data structure is an element or an attribute.

106. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 103 wherein the ancillary relationship uses an equation equating the ancillary data structure to a function of at least one property of the class.

107. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 106 wherein the function uses arithmetic expressions.

108. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 106 wherein the function uses text string expressions.

109. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 103 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal of a given class or a given property on the plurality of mappings.

110. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 109 wherein said dependency analyzer issues an impact warning prior to removal of a given class or a given property.

111. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 103 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of modification of the source or the target of a given property on the plurality of mappings.

112. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 111 wherein said dependency analyzer issues an impact warning prior to modification of the source or target of a given property.

113. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 103 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal or modification of a class inheritance relationship on the plurality of mappings.

114. The schema-to-ontology mapper of claim 113 wherein said dependency analyzer issues an impact warning prior to removal or modification of a class inheritance relationship.

115. A method for mapping a schema to an ontology model, comprising:

receiving a schema, the schema including at least one primary data structure, the primary data structure having at least one ancillary data structure; and

generating a plurality of mappings, comprising;

defining a primary mapping that is a correspondence between a primary data structure of the schema and a class of an ontology model, and

defining an ancillary relationship between an ancillary data structure of the primary data structure and at least one property of the class.

116. The method of claim 115 wherein the schema is a relational database schema, wherein the primary data structure is a table and wherein the ancillary data structure is a column of a table.

117. The method of claim 115 wherein the schema is an XML schema, wherein the primary data structure is a complexType and wherein the ancillary data structure is an element or an attribute.

118. The method of claim 115 wherein the ancillary relationship uses an equation equating the ancillary data structure to a function of at least one property of the class.

119. The method of claim 118 wherein the function uses arithmetic expressions.

120. The method of claim 118 wherein the function uses text string expressions.

121. The method of claim 115 further comprising analyzing the impact of removal of a given class or a given property on the plurality of mappings.

122. The method of claim 121 further comprising issuing an impact warning prior to removal of a given class or a given property.

123. The method of claim 115 further comprising analyzing the impact of modification of the source or the target of a given property on the plurality of mappings.

124. The method of claim 123 further comprising issuing an impact warning prior to modification of the source or target of a given property.

125. The method of claim 115 further comprising analyzing the impact of removal or modification of a class inheritance relationship on the plurality of mappings.

126. The method of claim 125 further comprising issuing an impact warning prior to removal or modification of a class inheritance relationship.

127. A schema transformation generator comprising:

a storage for storing a first mapping of a first schema into a central ontology model, and a second mapping of a second schema into the central ontology model wherein the first schema includes at least one first primary data structure, the first primary data structure having at least one first ancillary data structure, wherein the second schema includes at least one second primary data structure, the second primary data structure having at least one second ancillary data structure, wherein the first mapping includes at least one first primary mapping that is a correspondence between at least one first primary data structure of the first schema and a class of the central ontology model, and at least one first relationship between at least one first ancillary data structure of a first primary data structure and at least one property of a class, and wherein the second mapping includes at least one second primary mapping that is a correspondence between at least one second primary data structure of the second schema and a class of the central ontology model, and at least one second relationship between at least one second ancillary data structure of a second primary data structure and at least one property of a class; and

a transformation generator for generating a transformation from the first schema into the second schema, using the first and second primary mappings and the first and second relationships.

128. The schema transformation generator of claim 127 further comprising a schema builder for building the second schema in accordance with at least one given query.

129. The schema transformation generator of claim 128 wherein the at least one given query is at least one given query on data conforming to the first schema.

130. The schema transformation generator of claim 128 wherein the at least one given query is at least one given query on instance data of the central ontology model.

131. The schema transformation generator of claim 127 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal of a given class or a given property from the central ontology model on a generated transformation.

132. The schema transformation generator of claim 131 wherein said dependency analyzer indicates that a transformation should be re-generated after removal of a given class or a given property from the central ontology model.

133. The schema transformation generator of claim 127 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of modification of the source or the target of a given property from the central ontology model on a generated transformation.

134. The schema transformation generator of claim 133 wherein said dependency analyzer indicates that a transformation should be re-generated after modification of the source or the target of a given property.

135. The schema transformation generator of claim 127 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal or modification of a class inheritance relationship on a generated transformation.

136. The schema transformation generator of claim 135 wherein said dependency analyzer indicates that a transformation should be re-generated after removal or modification of a class inheritance relationship.

137. The schema transformation generator of claim 127 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal or modification of a first or second primary mapping on a generated transformation.

138. The schema transformation generator of claim 137 wherein said dependency analyzer indicates that a transformation should be re-generated after removal or modification of a first or second primary mapping.

139. The schema transformation generator of claim 127 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal or modification of a first or second relationship on a generated transformation.

140. The schema transformation generator of claim 139 wherein said dependency analyzer indicates that a transformation should be re-generated after removal or modification of a first or second relationship.

141. A method for generating a schema transformation comprising:

storing a first mapping of a first schema into a central ontology model, and a second mapping of a second schema into the central ontology model, wherein the first schema includes at least one first primary data structure, the first primary data structure having at least one first ancillary data structure, wherein the second schema includes at least one second primary data structure, the second primary data structure having at least one second ancillary data structure, wherein the first mapping includes at least one first primary mapping that is a correspondence between at least one first primary data structure of the first schema and a class of the central ontology model, and at least one first relationship between at least one first ancillary data structure of a first primary data structure and at least one property of a class, and wherein the second mapping includes at least one second primary mapping that is a correspondence between at least one second primary data structure of the second schema and a class of the central ontology model, and at least one second relationship between at least one second ancillary data structure of a second primary data structure and at least one property of a class; and

generating a transformation from the first schema into the second schema, using the first and second primary mappings and the first and second relationships.

142. The method of claim 141 further comprising building the second schema in accordance with at least one given query.

143. The method of claim 142 wherein the at least one given query is at least one given query on data conforming to the first schema.

144. The method of claim 142 wherein the at least one given query is at least one given query on instance data of the central ontology model.

145. The method of claim 141 further comprising analyzing the impact of removal of a given class or a given property from the central ontology model on a generated transformation.

146. The method of claim 145 further comprising indicating that a transformation should be re-generated after removal of a given class or a given property from the central ontology model.

147. The method of claim 141 further comprising analyzing the impact of modification of the source or the target of a given property from the central ontology model on a generated transformation.

148. The method of claim 147 further comprising indicating that a transformation should be re-generated after modification of the source or the target of a given property.

149. The method of claim 141 further comprising analyzing the impact of removal or modification of a class inheritance relationship on a generated transformation.

150. The method of claim 149 further comprising indicating that a transformation should be re-generated after removal or modification of a class inheritance relationship.

151. The method of claim 141 further comprising analyzing the impact of removal or modification of a first or second primary mapping on a generated transformation.

152. The method of claim 151 further comprising indicating that a transformation should be re-generated after removal or modification of a first or second primary mapping.

153. The method of claim 141 further comprising a dependency analyzer for analyzing the impact of removal or modification of a first or second relationship on a generated transformation.

154. The method of claim 153 further comprising indicating that a transformation should be re-generated after removal or modification of a first or second relationship.